There has been no shortage of voices calling for safety reform on L.A.'s Metro system amid a long run of violent crimes. Yet just this week, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told KNX News she believes the spike in violence on mass transit is somehow related to the time of year.
Los Angeles Council member Monica Rodriguez is chair of the Public Safety Committee, and she tells KNX News' Craig Fiegener she doesn't buy it, saying "There were some very simple solutions that could have been adopted by the Metro Board."
Earlier this month, L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said LASD crunched the numbers, and it turns out that most suspects arrested for violent crimes committed on L.A. Metro over the last year did not have a ticket to be on the transit system.
Luna said this would be an excellent place to start, and Rodriguez agrees.
According to Rodriguez, "Fare evaders represent 97% of those that are committing the assaults and infractions, and I think that is simply mitigated by just making sure that the people that have access to Metro actually pay the fare."
Metro has launched its new 'TAP to exit' pilot program, but Rodriguez said, "That's a very simple solution that they're now finally starting to implement a practice of [and] how many people could have been protected by just simply implementing that type of practice earlier?"
Council member Rodriguez made a formal request to the Los Angeles Police Department and Metro for all crime reports related to incidents on Metro going back to 2017. She wants to substantiate further her belief that passengers skipping fares are the biggest offenders and causes of violence on Metro.
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